Renowned attorney joins Hayat defense

Saturday

May 20, 2006 at 12:01 AM

SACRAMENTO - A San Francisco attorney renowned for successfully appealing high-profile criminal cases has joined the defense team representing Lodi's Hamid Hayat, who was convicted April 25 of receiving terrorist training in Pakistan.

Jeff Hood

SACRAMENTO - A San Francisco attorney renowned for successfully appealing high-profile criminal cases has joined the defense team representing Lodi's Hamid Hayat, who was convicted April 25 of receiving terrorist training in Pakistan.

Dennis P. Riordan, who specializes in combing through trial records for judicial missteps, told U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. at a hearing Friday that he was assisting defense attorney Wazhma Mojaddidi in her attempt to seek a new trial for Hayat.

Mojaddidi alleges that Hayat, a 23-year-old Lodi native, did not receive a fair trial because of jury misconduct and Burrell's mistaken rulings. Burrell has scheduled a Nov. 17 hearing on the matter in Sacramento's federal court.

"It's one of the most important cases in the country," Riordan said of Hayat's terrorism conviction. "Is this a real case of terrorism, or is it people running after confused individuals and getting them to say things that have little to do with reality and trumpeting it as a major battle in the war on terrorism?"

Riordan, 57, has won numerous rulings on behalf of convicted clients in his 30-year career. He was able to obtain a one-day sentence in 2003 for convicted pot grower Ed Rosenthal in a San Francisco medical marijuana case and had the 1976 conviction of Black Panther Johnny Spain for shooting a San Quentin State Prison guard to death reversed in 1988.

He also represented Marjorie Knoller, the San Francisco woman convicted of murder in 2001 in a notorious dog-mauling case, and had her conviction reduced to involuntary manslaughter. The murder conviction was later reinstated, though.

Riordan said Friday he followed the Hayat trial in the newspapers and the misconduct allegations before offering his help to Mojaddidi.

"He's extremely good," said Charles D. Weisselberg, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and a defense attorney. "He's one of a handful of top folks one might call in for post-conviction motions. You can count on Mr. Riordan to examine every claim very carefully."

Friday's hearing was to set a schedule for Mojaddidi and prosecutors to file papers regarding the new-trial motion. The defense's first filing is due Sept. 15. Prosecutors could not be reached for comment afterward.

A juror who said she was bullied into voting to convict Hayat alleges a fellow juror made racist comments and said, "Hang him," on the second day of trial testimony. Other jurors have corroborated parts of juror Arcelia Lopez's allegations.

Meanwhile, Hayat's sentencing, originally scheduled for July 14, has been delayed indefinitely. He faces up to 39 years in prison after the jury convicted him of supporting terrorism by attending a Pakistani terrorist training camp in 2003 and 2004 and of three counts of lying to the FBI about it. Attorneys might schedule a sentencing date during the Nov. 17 hearing.

Hayat's father, Umer Hayat, will be retried on two counts of lying to federal agents after his trial ended in a hung jury April 25. Jury selection is scheduled to begin June 5.